1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of switchable elements and pertains to a switchable element, and to a memory device containing a plurality of such switchable elements as memory elements or a logic circuit containing such switchable elements as switchable logic elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Memory and logic elements such as complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) are major classes of integrated circuits. They are used in processor and/or memory chips such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, solid-state stand-alone and embedded memory circuits and other digital logic circuits.
The most widely used memory technologies are DRAM, SRAM, Floating gate (Flash), and MRAM. None of these existing technologies can be integrated with high areal density and provide at the same time non-volatile and fast operation. Especially, Flash is too slow for many embedded applications, SRAM and DRAM loose their memory state when disconnected from the power supply, and SRAM and MRAM can only be manufactured with a limited areal density. In addition, the high programming voltage of Flash complicates integration with CMOS circuitry.
Now referring to state of the art logic elements, the logic state of CMOS is volatile and the input voltage has hence to be maintained. The always maintained input voltage will lead to considerable power consumption and heating in future CMOS generations.